


Holding On and Letting Go

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s01e14 Take This Sabbath Day, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-18
Updated: 2010-04-18
Packaged: 2019-05-30 10:05:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15094475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: We get a little background into how Josh ended up asleep on his office floor, in a disgraceful state, after a bachelor party





	Holding On and Letting Go

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Title: Holding On and Letting Go

Timeline: Takes place after Take This Sabbath Day in S1

Rating: Oh, I’m not sure. There are sexual references.

Disclaimer: not mine etc… I have stolen dialogue from Sorkin, just to indulge myself. To me, is one of the funniest scenes in TWW and Whitford acts it like no other, in my opinion.

A/N: This is inspired by a photo tweeted from the set of The Good Guys. I’ve wanted to do a background story for this ep for ages and finally I had the trigger! Kathy mentioned this idea to me and I initially offered it to others as my muse is MIA. But I ended up doing it myself – go figure! Thanks to Kathy from whom I shamelessly stole a comment from an email conversation we had,lol! Also thanks to Katie for clarifying a point for me.

A/N: unbeta’d so be warned. 

Feedback: Is appreciated, if you feel so inclined…

 

Josh entered the bar, completely relaxed and looking forward to the evening. Catching up with old friends, doing what men do and being away from the office were all positives for him at the moment. He had thought he had the whole weekend clear but a sudden 10:00am meeting had been added to his schedule for tomorrow morning. However, he was a professional political operative! He could drink with the best of them, have a few hours sleep and still make it in time for his meeting.

“Hey Josh, get yourself over here. There’s a drink here with your name on it,” a man’s voice bellowed across the bar.

Josh looked over to see his friend, Graham Blake waving at him. He and Graham had been friends at Harvard. After Graham took up a position with a DC law firm, their friendship had been rekindled. Over time, Graham had met more of Josh’s DC friends and Josh had socialized on many occasions with some of Graham’s friends. They had become a social group that, due to the demands of their jobs, didn’t get together often but when they did it was always a boisterous evening. Tonight was Graham’s bachelor party so it wasn’t going to be the exception!

As the evening progressed from bar to restaurant to the seedy aspects of such nights, Josh continued to drink. Beer, champagne and vodka were consumed in massive quantities. Stories were told, jokes shared and male camaraderie explored!

As Josh reached for another bottle of champagne Tony, a legislative aide who Josh had introduced to Graham, leaned over and shouted above the noise, “Josh! Donna told me to keep an eye on your drinking and to remind you that you have a sensitive system,” he smiled as he said it, fully aware of the reaction it would bring.

Josh sighed and ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even further than its usual state of mayhem. “For God’s sake Tony, I’m not some wayward child tempted to eat too may sweets at a party. This is the first weekend off I’ve had in…ages…and I plan to enjoy it. What Donna doesn’t know won’t hurt her. She isn’t my keeper.” 

Tony and Graham exchanged looks as Graham muttered “Keeper? No. Something else? Stay tuned!” Tony’s chuckling only reinforced to the surrounding men that something worth hearing was being said.

“Who’s Donna?” asked a fresh faced man, introduced as Carl – a colleague of Graham’s.

‘She’s Josh’s assistant,” answered Tony.

“Among other things,” Graham added as an aside. 

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Josh asked, slurring his words slightly.

“Just that the two of you have a relationship that goes beyond the normal ‘boss/assistant’ dynamic.”

Carl looked on curiously as Josh gave Graham a withering look. “Is she your girlfriend?”

“What? No. She’s my assistant,” Josh spluttered.

“Sure Josh. Whatever you say,” Tony nodded agreeably. He had heard some rumours on the Hill about the DCoS and his assistant. It really wasn’t anybody’s business but he’d met Donna a few times and thought she and Josh complemented each other well. But if Josh wasn’t in a place yet where he could acknowledge the obvious sexual tension between them, then he also knew he wasn’t to be pressured.

The remainder of the evening passed in a haze of alcohol, music and, despite Josh’s comments to Donna, strippers. At some point in the wee small hours of the morning, a cab dropped Josh at the entrance to the West Wing. Stumbling to his office, he passed out on his office floor which is where Donna found him in the morning.

“Josh. Josh!” 

‘Huh?” Josh snuffled and snorted his way to consciousness.

“What are you doing?” she asked horrified.

“What?”

“Did you spend the night here?” Donna accused. 

“No--just since a couple of hours ago.”

“The party went to the morning?” 

“Yeah.”

“Why didn't you go home?”

“What?” Josh kept repeating the word

“Why didn't you go home after the party?”

“I couldn't find my keys or remember where I lived,” he answered finally able to speak in more than monosyllables.

“Josh.” Donna didn’t try to hide her horror at his state

“I think there might have been strippers there.”

“Oh, my God.” He wasn’t sure if her words were a response to his mention of strippers or the sight of him looking as though he crawled out of a dumpster!

“Shhhh!” Josh begged.

“What happened to your clothes?” she asked. She couldn’t help but notice the red knickers around Josh’s neck.

“I may have wrinkled my suit.”

“Josh!”

“Donna. You ... you really want to speak very softly,” Josh begged. His head was throbbing and his tongue felt like fuzzy carpet.

“How did you get like this?”

“People were pouring champagne over each other—“ he gestured.

“And then wrestling in dirt?” she almost shouted.

“I can't remember, but it's certainly not out of the question.” 

“You have a meeting,” she said trying to bring him back to reality.

“Yeah, I know. I'm not ... you know ... uh ... what was the meeting again?’ 

“Joey Lucas about O'Dwyer.”

“Yes.”

“Josh.”

“I'm fine.”

“You can't wear those clothes,” Donna was almost gagging on the smells emanating from the space Josh occupied.

“I'm fine.”

“Trust me.”

“They're the only clothes I've got.”

‘ I'll find some other clothes.”

“Fine.”

As Donna leaves she says “Are you going to listen to me from now on?”

“I'm not even listening to you now,” he mutters as she walks away.

“I said, are you going to listen—“

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes! “

If Tony and Graham had been around to hear this exchange they would have smiled knowingly. For all Josh may deny it, he and Donna had a much deeper relationship than a working one. This conversation sounded more like a husband returning from a night out with the boys to face the derision and anger of his wife!

After some confusion, Josh’s meeting with Joey Lucas went well. Josh crawled off home to sleep off the remains of his hangover. He kept his promise to Donna and took her shoe shopping on the Sunday. By Monday, life went on as normal in the West Wing.

Wednesday morning Donna arrived at her desk by 7:30am. Resting against her computer was an envelope with her name on it. It hadn’t come through regular mail so had been left there by someone who had access to the building. As she opened it, a handful of photos fluttered to the floor. Donna gasped and hurried to pick them up before anyone else could see. She needed to determine who had sent them before deciding on a course of action. Was Josh about to be blackmailed? 

Looking inside the envelope she found a single sheet of paper. On it was written: 

“ I thought Josh might like a souvenir of his participation in Graham’s bachelor party. I doubt he remembers this! You should have seen him! Who would’ve guessed?? We must catch up for lunch soon, Tony”.

Donna didn’t know if she should be relieved, amused or horrified. At this moment though, fascination was winning out. For in her hands were images of Josh Lyman… pole dancing! The series of snaps showed the way he contorted his body to wrap around the pole. Donna had no idea he was this…um…flexible. As she went from image to image she could feel the heat rushing through her body. Oh, this was bad on so many levels! Bad that there was photographic evidence of Josh’s antics and bad that her reaction was so…primal. She had never seen Josh so uninhibited, so sexual. 

Just then, Josh entered the bullpen, walking at a great speed and shooting off requests to people. Donna became aware that he’d said her name several times. Flustered she shoved the photos into her top drawer.

“Are you okay?” he asked. It wasn’t like Donna to be so spaced out.

She just looked at him. It was going to be hard to look him in the face from now on with the image she had burned on her brain, of him and the way he flexed his body…  
Feeling herself flush, she jumped up and began to distract herself by pretending to pull files from the cabinet. Within a few minute she was back to her normal self.

“Donna, I really need the information for my meeting with Senator Millhouse this afternoon.”

“Keep you pants on Joshua,” Donna began but images of the groin thrusting, pole dancing DCoS came too freely to mind with her choice of words. She covered her embarrassment with a cough.

Josh gave her a look but went off to his office, not devoting much time to the unusual behaviour of his assistant. Donna could be quirky at times and he’d learned to go with her moods. Meanwhile Donna pondered her physical response to the photos and what she was going to do next!

Later that day, he looked up from his reading to see Donna leaning in his doorway. She was looking at him with a critical eye, as though she was sizing him up for some purpose or another.

“How you doin’?” he asked nervously.

“I’m good but I think you’re better,” Donna smiled as she sauntered into his office. She sat in the chair opposite his desk and casually placed both legs on his desk, crossing them at the ankle. Josh hoped his gulp wasn’t audible as he was confronted by her pale, long legs draping his desk as only he’d seen in his fantasies.

“I’m better?”

“Yes Joshua, you are good. I’ve seen the evidence. I never knew you were so …bendy.”

Josh began to sweat as the velvety tones of Donna’s voice washed over him.

“Donna, what the hell is happening right now?”

Donna began to fan herself with an envelope. “Josh, what do you remember about Graham’s bachelor night?”

“Not much”, he chuckled. Snippets came back to him but some of the finer details of the latter part of the evening were lost. “We had drinks at a bar, went to dinner at that Mexican restaurant on Wisconsin Ave and then ended up at a str…er…gentleman’s club near Dupont Circle.”

“I’m thinking you’d had quite a few drinks by the time you got to this club? Enough to loosen up some inhibitions?

Josh was beginning to worry. Donna spoke as if she knew something he didn’t – not always an unusual state of affairs – but in this instance it could be a PR nightmare if he’d misbehaved and had no recollection.

He sat upright in his chair and fixed her with a stare. “Donna, do you know something about that night that I need to know? Is this something I should be talking to CJ about?

Donna looked at Josh and felt a little guilty for worrying him. She was toying with him but he didn’t know that. It was time to put his mind at ease. Although, by the time she was finished she hoped she’d have given him even more to think about.

Swinging her legs down, she leant over and spilled the contents of the envelope onto his desk. Josh’s silence spoke volumes. Embarrassment washed over him as recollections flooded his brain.

“Dear God,” he muttered. “I remember now.”

“Do tell, Joshua. How was it you got into such a state that you felt the need to pole dance in public?”

“Hey, at least I still have my clothes on,” he shot back. Seeing the way Donna blushed, he realized that may not have been the best thing to say!

“We ended up at a club. There was music, dancing, girls. Graham was the focus for much of it. One of the women asked for volunteers to learn to pole dance and…”

“You volunteered?”

“Yeah,” he replied wondering how he could have been so foolish.

“I had no idea you were so…lithe…so limber,” Donna was practically purring.

“Well, I always was pretty flexible. But I didn’t know I still had it in me. Most men my age might not walk for days after doing something like that.”

Donna got up to leave. With a backwards glance, she teased “Josh, if you did that to me, I’m not sure I’d walk for days.”

That comment left Josh with his mouth gaping. Did she…was she…He got up from his desk to follow her. He found her at her desk, as though waiting for him.

He looked at her steadily. In her eyes he saw amusement, love and blatant desire. But he needed to be sure.

“That was kind of a leading statement there, Donna.”

“Oh, was it? I guess I wasn’t clear enough then.” Looking around the bullpen and seeing no one else was in sight, she reached over, grabbed Josh by his tie and pulled him in to her. The gentleness of the kiss belied the force with which she grabbed him. As his arms came around her and her hands toyed with the curls at the nape of his neck, the kiss escalated.

Breaking the kiss, Donna looked up at him with passion laden eyes and whispered “Take me home Josh and show me some of those moves.”

“I’m not gonna have to buy a pole for my apartment am I?” he smirked.

Donna rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t be ‘you’ about this. Just take me home, bendy boy!”

And as he led her from the West Wing he came to realize that good things can come out of the strangest of things!


End file.
